Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: ipv6 (feddit.org)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/explainlikeimfive

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Seriously, my knowledge ends with:

It offers a shitload of IP addresses
They look really complicated
Something about every device in your local network being visible from everywhere?
Some claim it obsoletes NAT?

I get that it's probably too complicated a subject for an ELI5, so if there are good videos or resources explaining it in less than half an hour, feel free to share.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fair enough, I guess I'm thinking quite far into the future when IPv6 is just the absolute dominant form of connection and most people are turning off IPv4 or operating systems aren't really shipping with IPv4 support.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Assuming you only have one router you'd probably be fine with ff02::2 (that's the well-known-multicast for every IPv6 router on the link).
Otherwise your ISP or vendor should have the default value in some kind of setup instructions I'd guess.

Edit: Oh, and then there is the Neighbour Discovery Protocol, a router advertises itself on the link. It can even give you a valid configuration through it. If not, you can at least look up the advertised address via a simple command line command.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I wonder if default gateway might work. Because at least in an IPv4 network, if you go to like your settings and look at the network information, the default gateway is your router's IP address. I'm thinking like the Wi-Fi settings in the Android system, for example.

Edit: Also, thanks for the multicast address. I'm at least somewhat new to IPv6 networking myself, and so I was not aware of that address. About the most I've been able to do with IPv6 so far is set my own DNS server and Configure a static IP address for one of my Systems to act as a server By doing like ISPPrefix::1

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Yes, if you get a standard gateway defined, either through a DHCP server (pretty much all consumer router should have one running by default too) or SLAAC, you should be able to look it up through the settings in the GUI, too.

You're welcome. I'm no big expert myself, but I'd say that most things aren't so different from v4, once you understand how v6 addresses work and are configured (and that there is no broadcast address anymore).